Of the two portraits engraved for this work, that which will, probably, most strikingly attract attention, is taken from a bust, of coarse and unartistic workmanship, but bearing all the marks of a genuine likeness. It was moulded by a country artist, at the desire of Hume's esteemed friend, Professor Ferguson; and I am under obligations to his son, Sir Adam, for the privilege of using it on this occasion, and to Sir George Mackenzie, for having kindly mentioned its existence, and exerted himself in its recovery, after it had been long lost sight of. The medallion, from which the other portrait is taken, is in the possession of Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, Esq., by whom I was presented with the engraved plate, from which the fac simile of a letter, addressed by Hume to his collateral ancestor, is printed. _Edinburgh, February, 1846._ *.* It may be right to explain, that the two sizes of type, used in this work, were first adopted with the design of presenting all letters addressed to Hume, all extracts, and all letters from him with which the public is already familiar, in the smaller type, in order that the reader coming to a document with which he is already acquainted, might see at once where it ends. This arrangement was accidentally broken through, several letters having been printed in the larger that should have appeared in the smaller type. FOOTNOTES: [xi:1] No. LXXIII. p. 555. CONTENTS OF VOLUME FIRST. ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. I. Portrait of Hume from a Medallion, _Frontispiece_. Fac simile of a letter by Hume, Page 178 CHAPTER I. 1711-1734. ÆT. 0-23. Birth--Parentage--His own account of his Ancestors--Local associations of Ninewells--Education--Studies--Early Correspondence--The Ramsays--Specimen of his early Writings-- Essay on Chivalry--Why he deserted the Law--Early ambition to found a School of Philosophy--Letter to a Physician describing his studies and habits--Criticism on the Letter--Supposition that it was addressed to Dr. Cheyne--Hume goes to Bristol. 1 CHAPTER II. 1734-1739. ÆT. 23-27. Hume leaves Bristol for France--Paris--Miracles at the Tomb of the Abbé Paris--Rheims--La Flêche--Associations with the Abbé Pluche and Des Cartes--Observations on French Society and Manners --Story of La Roche--Return to Britain--Correspondence with Henry Home--Publication of the first and second volume of the Treatise of Human Nature--Character of that Work--Its influence on Mental Philosophy. 48 CHAPTER III. 1739-1741. ÆT. 27-29.